2008 has seen a few
positives and a few negatives in the “Judson World.” The positives
involve the reproduction and ready availability of the Judson
Supercharger rotor and the Marvel Oiler glass bottle.
If you are familiar
with the workings of a Judson Supercharger you’ll know the importance
of a rotor in good condition. Unfortunately most used Judsons have worn
rotors that drastically reduce their operating efficiency but now thanks
to Ricardo Deisernia that rattley old Judson can be a thing of the past.
Ricardo has also had
the previously impossible to find Marvel Oiler bottle reproduced so you
don’t have to jump off the roof if you break an original jar. The
repros are an exact copy and along with our repro Marvel Water Transfer
decal not even the expert can tell the difference. You’ll find all of
these new products on our “Buy & Sell” page.
On the downside our
.php “Judson Register Forum” has had to close to be replaced by our
old style Judson Message Board. The reason for this was the host for the
server that was the home for our forum raised their fees dramatically.
Sadly it wasn’t just a matter of finding a more reasonably priced
host, as our custom designed forum would have required many hours of
reprogramming. This seemed impractical so it was decided to revert to
our older Message Board.
Even this negative has
had a positive outcome as a new “Vintage Speed Forum” has been
created on the VW website: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=44
so if you’re a VW fan you still find me on hand to answer to your
Judson questions.
As
I write this I have just heard that Judson Register friend Erich Kircher
has sadly past away after a courageous fight again cancer. Erich leaves
a wife, Wendy and young son Karsten…the world is a lesser place for
his untimely passing...you'll find Erich's Gallery page here.
This
world famous Vintage VW show happens just once every four year and
attracts enthusiasts from all over the world. If you want to know why it's
so highly rated check out the pictures by clicking HERE
The Stonor Park show is now in its 24th
Year and true to form ( as you can see from the pictures) the weather was
excellent. The beautiful setting, a large swap meet and an across the
board appeal (water and aircooled) always brings the crowds. Click on the
picture to see more.
Over the past 20 years this has been the
show that heralds the start of the European VW Show Season. This year's
show had it's usual share of the U.K's and Europe's finest. CLICK
HERE for more pictures.
I've always loved this picture and for those who
know this site or Judsons what you see above is a very significant picture.
What this picture signals is the reappearance of Frank Edmondson's original '59
Judson powered Karmann Ghia. At long last the car is in the hands of a sympathetic
owner whose sole intention is to bring the car back to its former glory.
Mike Gregory is the man whom many KG owners will know as the man behind "The
House of Ghia"
The picture is a scanned image from the original taken in 1960 and used in the
Judson promotional leaflet, "The
Edmondson Testimony".
I'm not going to tell you the full story of the car...yet. That's for the next
Judson Register E-Newsletter so if you'd like the inside story register with us
to join the mailing list. John.
This is one of the main shows of The Split Screen Van
Club's year and also the last outdoor meet of the season here in the U.K. It's
always well supported but this year it seemed more so. There are around 900
parking slots on Madeira Drive on the seafront in Brighton and by midday pretty
well all had been taken.
The Promenade can be a bleak spot if the weather is unkind and although the
forecast was for rain showers we didn't have a drop. Click
on the picture to see more.
A sign of "Global
Warming" or of supreme optimism seeing that the forecast was for
rain.
Like it or loathe it, this Type 2 "Roadster" got a lot of attention.
Stanford Hall
2006 - Sunday 30th April 2006. This year's Show was favoured with dry weather.
The UK at this time of year can be cold and when the sun disappeared behind the
cloud this was the case.
There was plenty to see whatever your tastes in VWs as, although billed as a
Vintage Show it also caters for late marque aircooled and watercooled.
As the Porsche Club of Great Britain were putting on a display, friends Dave and
Trevor convoyed up with us from the South Coast in their newly acquired '63
Porsche 356C.
Click on the picture below for more show pictures.
Our '63 Brasilian Kombi approaches
Hessisch Oldendorf on the BBT Convoy - picture
by Tom Rusch
I think there are few VW fans the world
over who have never heard of the top vintage show that takes place, every
four years at the German town of Bad Camberg. It has always been
considered to be the World's premier Vintage VW Show...and rightly so but
today I'm telling you I've been to a show that out-strips even Bad
Camberg.
Hessisch Oldendorf is a lovely old town
in Lower Saxony, Northern Germany. Like Bad Camberg, the show takes place
every four years and this year attracted the top vintage VW collectors
from all over Europe...in fact all over the world.
So what makes the Hessisch Oldendorf
show so special?
The location...the centre of the old town is sealed off on show days to
allow only the VW exhibits to park on the streets.
The organisation...from the
signing in at the Town Hall on the Friday afternoon to our departure on
the Sunday afternoon, everything had been thought of.
The hospitality...the whole town seemed
to be involved and the Saturday evening reception had everything, good
food, good drink and good friendships made and renewed.
And of course the cars...beautiful
restorations, amazing original conditions, 5 Schwimwagens, Kubals,
Kommanderwagens, and an array of ultra rare VW based coachbuilts.
I met a lot of Judson Register members, who I'm
pleased to say did very well when the prizes were given out. Peter
Neilsen's '54 Judson Oval from Denmark drove away with the top
prize...Best in Show. Julian Hunt's '52 Barndoor Panel Van won Best Type 2
and Brent Carter's '66 Judson Karmann Ghia won "The furthest
Driven"...Boise, Idaho to Hessisch.
If
you'd like to sample something of the show then CLICK
HERE
April each year is the time of The
Golden Gate Chapter of The Vintage Volkswagen Club of America's Spring meet.
It's held every year in the attractive surroundings of San Jose's Kelley Park.
Luckily it's a show our West Coast correspondent :+) Gary Feikert never misses.
If you click on the picture above of his '55 Oval
traveling home, across the Golden Gate Bridge it will take you to his
illustrated show
report.
Stanford Hall
2005 - Sunday 1st May 2005 For this year's show we took the
Brazilian Bus, as my '59 Beetle is awaiting a new Judson rotor to put the blower
into virtually NOS condition. The weather thankfully stayed fine although a
little overcast at the beginning of the day.
Our "Techie Man" Richard Tricker arrived a little late after a four
and a half hour drive from Devon in his German Border Police Karmann Cabrio.
Richard knows how to make an entrance, as the picture below shows but admits that
driving a '52 Cabrio fitted with transfer boxes and no Judson makes for a tiring
journey. Stand-outs this year besides Richard's were the Heb, the Kubal, some very nice Split
Beetles and an impressive array of Split Window Buses.
For those looking for parts to complete that resto, Stanford Hall is always
supported by an increasingly large swapmeet. If you look hard enough or get up
early enough, you'll also find some bargains...we did. Click
on the picture below to see more.
Richard Tricker's German Border
Police Cabrio turns heads wherever it goes.
11th Annual VolksWorld Show -
Sandown Park, London, U.K. - 2nd-3rd April 2005 Instead of sitting and talking
about the Brazilian Bus I'd seen on my holiday in Brazil, this year we drove to
The Volksworld Show at
Sandown Park racecourse, London in that very same Bus. It was at this
show in 2004 we hatched the plan to import our Brazilian Kombi and it felt good
to be driving to the show early on a Sunday morning with the sun coming up (see
picture below).
This year's show, as ever shows how diverse is the UK VW scene...from extremely
expensive restorations to an increasing obsession with "Patina"
however you like to define the word. Sadly for the potential Bus owner in the UK
affordable resto projects are marketed as coveted "Rat Look" with an
extra couple of "K" on the asking price. JEM
Early morning view from the
passenger seat of our 15 Window Brazilian Kombi. Leading our 3 Bus convoy, Trev
Mouncey's '64 Samba, followed by Mike Tudor's '66 Canterbury Pitt and our Kombi
driven by Dave Cantle.
The 1st April 2005
is a big day for The VW Judson Register…it marks our 5th
anniversary and the first day we can truly say we are sharing our interest and
information with our friends in Japan.
If you’ve been to our
“Register” page you will have seen a large array of national flags denoting
the spread of membership. Although we do feature the Japanese flag we have only
two registered members…this you might find surprising for a nation that so
enthusiastically embraces everything related to classic Volkswagens.
This lack of Japanese
members is easy to understand in that enthusiasts have not only to learn, read
and understand a foreign language but also a completely different set of
alphabet characters and the mysteries of the English Language. Look at it this
way…would you relish having to learn Japanese Script just to find out about
Judson Superchargers?
It’s at this point I’d
like to introduce you to Seji Mii who has taken on the task of translating our
website into Japanese script. Seiji’s website named “The Judson Information
in Japan” is a completely separate website to this but has our full backing.
Seiji
was born in 1972 and still lives in Tokyo with his wife and their Strato-Silver
1955 Oval (see above). Seiji's love of aircooled Volkswagens started at an early
age as his Grandfather was a Beetle owner. If you'd like to visit Seiji's
website just click on the banner below. You'll also find more about Seiji in the
"ABOUT US" page.
I don't know how many of you have seen one of
these before but when it appeared on Ebay recently my curiosity got the better
of me. I won this still boxed NOS item not because I wanted it for my '59 Beetle
but simply to have a closer look...so here it is.
This is the predecessor of the familiar '50s
and '60s Marvel Oilers Judson used to lubricate their Superchargers. It works on
the same inverse pressure principal but has the oiler flow control positioned
conveniently on the car's dashboard.
The attractive chrome plated control sits
en route between the oil reservoir and the inlet manifold. To regulate the flow
of Marvel Oil you just turned the knob at the top and viewed the drip of the oil
in the same way as the later models.
The Oil Reservoir itself comes in the form of
a disposable 1 quart can, (not included with my kit) which sits in a cradle in
the engine compartment, connected to the dash control by copper tubing. Looking
at the set-up I don't think it would be suitable for the rear engined VW because
of the length of tubing needed. No reason though, if you have a Judson
powered front engined car why it couldn't work for you. That's if you can find
one of course. If you like to view the whole NOS kit, instruction leaflets
and period Marvel brochures CLICK HERE
This
is a report on the 2nd International Beetle Show at Foz do Iguacu,
Parana, Brazil. The venue was again the"FitFoz" Fitness
Centre where an increased number of mostly aircooled Volkswagens
gathered from Parana State and neighbouring Paraguay and Argentina.
The show appeals to a large cross
section of the local community, most of whom have at some time owned a
Fusca of their own. This year the show attracted over 6000 visitors.
You can see (right) organiser and good
friend of the Register, Yel Feu with some of a large array of food and powdered
milk donated to a local children's shelter from the proceeds of the
show.
The
reputation of The Golden Gate Chapter's vintage Show, held every other
year in the beautiful setting of Solvang is one of a relaxed and friendly
atmosphere.
Now I've past the first
"flush of youth" I seem to be increasingly drawn to
"relaxed and friendly" so it's a show that has a particular
attraction for me.
The setting as I say is
beautiful but the other attraction is that "The Register" has
quite a few members in "The Bay Area" and I know I'd have a lot
of Internet friends to talk to so maybe Jacqui and I will finally make it
in 2006.
At least two of those
friends, Gary Feikert and Mark Selinsky were there to take pictures and
were kind enough to send them for you to share the experience. Gary also
let us have a preview of the report he wrote for "Vintage Voice"
the magazine of the VVWCA.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR
SHOW REPORT.
Bonneville Salt Flats - Speed Week. The second week in August every
year sees the "Bonneville Speed Week". This year one of our
Register members Lew Schimke
drove the 14 hours from his home in Bellevue, WA to that famous scene of
many world speed records. Bonneville is still the site of the
fastest pass by an internal combustion engine...409.277m.p.h. by Bob
Summers in November 1965 but this year Lew was travelling just a little
slower.
As you can see from the picture Lew's car is not as streamlined as those
record breakers but the 1934 Ford Pickup is propelled by a Volvo B20 engine and a George
Folchi prepared Judson VO Supercharger.
Lew said, "It was so hot down there that after sitting on the salt
for about 8 hours the engine had only cooled off to 125 degrees!"
You don't have to do
much to work up a head of steam out on the salt flats...120° F at rest.
This Beetle that ran
156 mph on methanol, no nitrous or nitro methane.
It still has the link pin front end and the swing axle rear
suspension. The engine uses a factory type 4 case but the displacement
is now 2900 cc's!!
The Bug Show is one of, if not the largest
aircooled Volkswagen shows in Europe. It's been held at the idyllic setting of the
Spa/Francorchamps Formula 1 race track for the past 11 years and has grown
steadily in size and reputation.
This year my wife Jacqui and I attended as guests of Stéphane Lhonneux, known
to many of you as the maker of our fantastic new Judson Boost Gauge.
Stéphane has long been associated with The Bug Show, either as a committee
member, exhibitor or sponsor. This year Stéphane's company "Wolfsburg
Specialties" acted as a joint sponsor along with the highly respected
US magazine "Hot VWs".
Stéph and I had in fact been involved in securing this year's Guest of Honour,
Bruce Simurda, editor of "Hot VWs" and I must say it was a
genuine pleasure to meet Bruce and his lovely family.
It was Bruce's first visit to "Le Bug Show" and I know the number
and quality of the cars exceeded his expectations although Stéph thought he
looked a little pale after taking a hairy ride around the circuit in a
"Kafer Cup" car.
Personally I was pleased to meet some old friends, Stéph, Alejandro Martin and
Rinie Roodbeen as well as making new friends with Peter Nielsen, who I met for
the first time after exchanging emails for several months.
In fact Peter represented "The Register" admirably by having
his beautiful '54 Judson powered Oval selected as one of the best 20 cars in the
entire show. No mean feat when you realise there were 1936 cars registered.
Above right: Stéph &
John.
Below: Bruce Simurda ready to shoot Peter Nielsen's Judson '54 Oval
and Right: Judson expert Rinie Roodbeen shows off his newly
designed Judson Gauge Poster.
Whizz Bang! Judsons
are pretty straightforward technology…not much to go wrong and the most owners
have to put up with is the wear and tear of the years but occasionally the
unexpected happens. Member
David Partington from the U.K. had his Judson seize on him without warning.
On dismantling the Judson it became evident that something had entered the
blower chamber and locked the rotor solid. It’s a useful story to relate and
David wants me to pass on the warning so here’s his emailed story and
pictures:
“I've
just about got everything ready to put my Judson back together ...a great local
company, who specialise, bizarrely informula
one
racing components, got interested in my plight and did a superb job repairing
the rotor and casing of the Judson,
whilst George, [Folchi]
as ever came to the rescue with new vanes and bits and pieces. Hopefully this
weekend she'll be hitting the road again in time for the club
show and shine this coming Tuesday.
I
just wanted to share what has been a hard lesson with as many people as
possible. What caused mine to seize was whatVW
call the
injector tube in the carb. It's a brass tap [faucet] shaped tube that over hangs
the throat of the carb and, this
is what's worrying, it doesn't
have a screw thread ...They are simply a push fit!
When
mine eventually rattled loose it fell through the carb got sucked into the
Judson and seized it solid doing what has now become
hundreds of pounds worth of damage. If you could print this in your next
newsletter or on the 'what’s new' section of the web site I'd
greatly appreciate it as I'd hate for someone else to go through the same
incident I did.
So,
for the time it takes to pop off the top of your carb pull your injector tubes
out and super glue them back down, it could save people a lot of expense! I was
chatting to a guy I know who's into breaking Vdubs for spares and it's supposedly
a very common problem ...made worse if your engine filter happens to be a
vintage Judson.
Hope
this helps people out, David Partington”
Left: damage to vanes and
rotor. Centre: damage to cylinder bore. Right: the offending
part.
Note similar components can be found on Solex 28pict, 30pict & 34pict
carburettors
and it might be a good idea to check the air correction jet on the early 28pci.
As
the name suggests this was the 5th annual Beachbuggin. If you're an aircooled VW
fan and come from my part of the world, (the South Coast of England) you'll know
that this has become the major show in Hampshire.
It draws an audience from London and many other neighbouring counties and is
attractively situated on Southsea sea front, just a mortar shot from "The D
Day Museum".
I arrived in my '59 Judson Beetle at 9.30 to be "kidnapped" for 1½
hours by a film crew making a documentary for the "Discovery Channel"
(see right). As you can see they wisely excluded me from the shot so I still
await my 15 minutes of fame.
Brazilian
Judson Register member Wagner Hubner, (pictured left with his girlfriend)
is a big Fusca fan. Most people just leave it at that and enjoy their
hobby for what it is...a little relaxation.
But not for Wagner, encouraged by the
success of a new Fusca show in the neighbouring Foz do Iguacu, Wagner
thought it was time his home city should have one too.
Having secured the use of a fantastic
indoor facility, usually reserved for the local German Oktoberfest, all the
local Fusca owners were invited to take a space in the hall. Thanks to
Wagner and fellow Register member Yel Feu we can show you pictures.
Click HERE to
continue.
Judson Volvo Norwegian Register member Lars
Fossum sent me a couple of pictures of his Swiss friend Josef Berglas' 1960 Volvo PV 544 Sport.
Lars says;
"After my advice Josef bought a
supercharger kit for the Volvo B16 engine from George Folchi some years
ago. But Josef had one problem. If you put a Judson into a Volvo PV
with B16 engine (older than 1962) you need the replacement hood hinge
that was included in
the original Judson Volvo kit.
Without this hinge, the stock Volvo hinge will catch on the supercharger
housing, preventing the hood from closing...and Josef didn't have
one. But as luck would have it, I had one that I had found (or
George Folchi found) for a friend. When he sold his Judson he gave the
hinge back to me so now I was able to have it copied. I asked a steel artist
here in Trondheim, and he cast it in alloy just like the original Judson
version. "
The pictures below show Josef's Judson Volvo being started for the first
time...and through the smoke on the right side of the hood you can see
that vital and very hard to find repro hinge.
Sometimes if you don't
adjust the oiler properly...1 drop every 6 seconds is correct...6 drops
every one second and you get LOTS of white smoke! No damage, just white
smoke.
New Deal in Bucharest.
Register Member and Judson owner Razvan
Weselowski has just taken a big step in life. Not satisfied with just a VW hobby
Razvan has opened his own Seat dealership in his home city of Bucharest,
Romania.
Seat as most of you will know is another brand name of the VW/Audi Group and one
I heartily endorse as I own a Seat myself.
Metrotehnica HQ, the new
Seat dealership in Bucharest and hopefully the first of a successful
chain.
The first car to be
tested on the Metrotehnica rolling road...not a Seat but Razvan's Judson
powered 1500 Beetle.
...and what do you think
you would find in the car park of a new Seat dealership on its first day?
Dean
Barton's '54 RHD Double door Panel Van Dean's ultra rare '54
Barndoor is one of just 3 RHD double door panel vans still in existence. As you
can see from the picture below it's going to be a lot of hard work to
restore the van but it looks as if Dean has got off to a good start. You
can check out his progress over the following months here and on his own
webpage at http://www.54doubledoor.co.uk
Fresh back from the
shot blasters.
Good Quality - Good
Value? Finnish Judson Register member
Matti Anttila sent me these pictures when he was working in Japan at the
beginning of 2004. They were taken in the showroom of "Flat4"
Tokyo and looking at the engine specification it doesn't seem that much
has been overlooked. Having said that all this quality comes at a
price;
1,155,000 Japanese Yen, which is; 10,966
US Dollars or 5,962 British Pounds
or 9,084 Euros. Hmmm at that price I think I might just try building
one myself.
Ebay
item I don't know if you've seen one of these
before but it's certainly a new one on me. It was up for sale on Ebay,
described as a 1966 Zippo Lighter. It looks as if the Judson Company had
these made as a promotional give away to advertise their Magnetos but they
must be pretty scarce as I've never seen one appear on Ebay before.
The
listing ended on 8th April and for me it was one of those irritating sales
that finished at 3 in the morning U.K. time so I made what appeared (in
hindsight) to be a rather naive bid of $32. There had been no other bids
on the item up until the time I shut down my computer for the night so I
was hopeful of winning it for the opening bid of $17. On checking out the
item the following morning I was brought back to earth with a bump...it
had sold for a winning bid of $103. Are there ANY Judson bargains left out
there :+(
If you've been looking
for a four-tip exhaust to go with your Vintage Speed VW you might like
to see how Register member VW Morten got round the problem. The process
needs a little general welding skills but it's nothing too difficult.
The pictures are pretty self explanatory. The starting point is an
ordinary good quality after-market 36 or 40 hp exhaust. Morten went to a
scrap yard and found some suitable stainless steel pipe and put the
whole thing together in four hours.
Hydraulic Throttle U.K. Judson Register member David
Partington discovered an irritating fault with his Judson kit when
fitted to his '67 1500cc Beetle. The Judson throttle linkage just wasn't
designed with the Solex 30 pict in mind. Some have adapted it to work
with the larger carb but David thought he'd try to adapt a hydraulic
throttle to do the job. Here's his description.
"I imported a hydraulic throttle
kit (usually intended for beach buggies) from CB performance in the
States at the beginning of 2003 with the intention of doing something
about the erratic working of the Judson throttle linkage.
This kit comes with its own pedal
which I cut down to accept the original VW rubber cover, and to make as
original looking as possible. You should be able to see the hydraulic
tube which was fitted to travel down next to the heater channel. It then
routes under the back seat over the transmission and up behind the fan
housing to the hydraulic ram which is mounted onto a bracket secured on
the original coil hole.
The main problem with the system was
that unlike the cable which pulls, the ram pushes. So a small arm had to
be fitted to the top of carburettor shaft which the ram pushes onto to
open the carb.
To cut a long story short this has
been a real technical nightmare to set up and I'm still resolving the
last teething problems ( note the twin return springs and lack of carb
spring ...its a fine balance between pedal pressure and return pressure)
but it runs like a dream.
Power is far more consistent down the
travel of the pedal and it feels a hundred times more responsive. It
also looks a lot less cluttered in the engine bay. I would say this has
been one of the best alterations made to the Judson, if you're prepared
to spend the money and anguish doing it."
If you have any experience of
hydraulic throttles or are thinking of using one I'm sure David would
like to hear from you.
Hidden Treasure Register member Peter Schepens
from Belgium sent me some pictures
this week of a new acquisition.
Peter says he had a phone call from a very good friend who was clearing
out his garage. His friend said he had a 70's tuning kit for a VW he'd
like to get rid of. Peter immediately thought it was another aftermarket
twin carb kit like a Weber or Dellorto.
When Peter got to his friends garage he found he couldn't have been more
wrong. The find was something a lot of us vintage speed freaks dream
about, it was an unused boxed OKRASA kit with all the goodies. Yes a
complete NOS kit with all the fixtures and fittings including the much
coveted Okrasa crankshaft.
The kit had lain undisturbed 5km from Peter's home for the last 25 years
and now he is the thrilled new owner.
No, don't bother to make Peter an offer. In exchange for a very good
price Peter has promised his friend he will not sell it on......... it's
earmarked for Peter's '56 Ragtop.
If you’ve been to our
“Register” page you will have seen a large array of national flags denoting
the spread of membership. Although we do feature the Japanese flag we have only
two registered members…this you might find surprising for a nation that so
enthusiastically embraces everything related to classic Volkswagens.
I don't know how many of you have seen one of
these before but when it appeared on Ebay recently my curiosity got the better
of me. I won this still boxed NOS item not because I wanted it for my '59 Beetle
but simply to have a closer look...so here it is.
This
is a report on the 2nd International Beetle Show at Foz do Iguacu,
Parana, Brazil. The venue was again the"FitFoz" Fitness
Centre where an increased number of mostly aircooled Volkswagens
gathered from Parana State and neighbouring Paraguay and Argentina.
The Bug Show is one of, if not the largest
aircooled Volkswagen shows in Europe. It's been held at the idyllic setting of the
Spa/Francorchamps Formula 1 race track for the past 11 years and has grown
steadily in size and reputation.
As
the name suggests this was the 5th annual Beachbuggin. If you're an aircooled VW
fan and come from my part of the world, (the South Coast of England) you'll know
that this has become the major show in Hampshire.
Brazilian
Judson Register member Wagner Hubner, (pictured left with his girlfriend)
is a big Fusca fan. Most people just leave it at that and enjoy their
hobby for what it is...a little relaxation.
